Skanska is nearly finished with one of the region’s largest projects, the $1 billion New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford pictured here under construction in February 2009.

Glimmers of improvement for vertical contractors The economy has dampened private construction activity, but there are signs of improvement.

“We are encouraged by the amount of recent activity of new work that we have been pursuing over the past three months in the state of New Jersey,” says Thomas Reilly, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction Co.’s New Jersey office in Somerset. “Even more encouraging is the fact that this work is across many industries and building types, including interior renovations, medical office buildings and health care-related work, data centers, higher education, some K-12 work and a few significant commercial development opportunities.”

Turner is working on data center and infrastructure upgrades for both Verizon and Verizon Wireless, in northern and central New Jersey, and is completing an expansion of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J. The company also is performing interior work, revising space to accommodate changing technology or consolidation of services or staff. Turner was recently awarded a 165,000 sq. ft. project by Samsung Electronics America to fit-out its new headquarters in Ridgefield Park. And for owners with the funding, he calls 2010 a great time to build with material prices low.

Turner topped off in December the $447 million University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, N.J. The 630,000-sq-ft, 237-room hospital is scheduled to open in 2011.

Skanska USA Building of New York is constructing a $341 million, 227-bed, 557,800-sq-ft replacement hospital for Capital Health in Pennington.

Torcon of Red Bank, N.J., broke ground in December on a Critical Care Building for St. Joesph’s Healthcare System in Paterson, N.J. The project is the third phase of a five-year, $250 million expansion and renovation program for the health system. It is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Gregory James, director of capital markets for NAI James E. Hanson of Hackensack, N.J., indicates some opportunities for medical arts buildings with ambulatory surgical or radiology centers, because they, typically, are owner occupied, rather than dependent on securing tenants.

Charles Kenny, a partner in the River Edge, N.J., law office of Peckar & Abramson, anticipates more health-care projects will emerge, including medical office buildings and surgery centers, undertaken by developers and health systems.

Turner is working on a $270 million, 265,000-sq-ft chemistry building at Princeton University. Additionally, Turner...